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Combating cancer, injury and disfigurement in the most socially important part of our bodies – the face and mouth

The face is the only part of our body we cannot hide. It conveys our emotions and innermost feelings. We often judge each other on the basis of facial appearance, making assumptions on a whole range of issues.

People suffer the consequences of facial diseases, injuries and disfigurement every day. In the United Kingdom 6,500 people develop oral cancer every year. Around 125,000 young people sustain serious facial injuries and 15,000 people receive treatment for facial disfigurement.

Despite the severity of these issues, this remains a much neglected research area leaving thousands of those unfortunate enough to be affected with little hope for the future. Not enough is known about facial disease, injury and deformity, their psychological and emotional impact and, critically, which treatments are most effective. Saving Faces - The Facial Surgery Research Foundation is the only charity in the UK solely dedicated to the worldwide reduction of facial injuries and diseases. We are taking the lead in education and research to improve the physical and psychological treatment of all victims of oral cancer and other facial diseases.

Mazeeda's story

Mazeda was born in 1995 with a small tumour on the right-side of her face. This was originally thought to be a benign tumour but over the course of the first two years of her life it grew rapidly in size to cause an horrendous swelling on the right-side of her face, which progressed up behind her right eye, pushing it out (proptosis) and compressing the nerve at the back, making her permanently blind in this eye. This was found to be a malignant yolk-sac tumour and she was initially treated with chemotherapy.

Following this she underwent surgery through an incision just in front of her right ear and into her right neck. The malignant tumour was removed from her right eye socket, right upper jaw and right lower jaw in 1998.

After her operation she attended the portrait sitting wearing this beautiful green dress. It was the first full-length portrait that Mark Gilbert made because he felt that this format captured Mazeda much better than a simple head and shoulders pose.